Did You Know This?

[MFS62]

Tonight on M&MD they were discussing baseball with Joel Sherman. The topic of when Theo Epstein might resume his GM duties with the Red Sox.
Mike said someting like "well, he doesn't need the money. He comes from money, his grandfather wrote "Casablanca".

Sure enough, the credits for the movie list three writers. Two of them are:
Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein.

Anybody know if they are related to Theo and which of them might be Theo's granddad?

As for the way Mike phrased his comment, I have no comment.

Later

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I knew that, although I don't know the exact relations.

[Willets Point]

Theo's family history led to this classic post by Frayed Knot.

[Vic Sage]

Philip and Julius Epstein were twin brothers who wrote screenplays together in Hollywood from the `30s thru the `50s, until Phil died in `58. Julius continued writing successfully for another 25 years, his last script the excellent REUBEN, REUBEN in `83.

The brothers specialized in crisp romantic comedies. They were brought in to re-write Howard Koch's adaptation of the play EVERYONE COMES TO RICKS. Koch, a great writer, was stronger on the politics and big themes, and the Epsteins were brought in to develop the love story and snappy patter. It is one of the rare examples of writing-by-committee that actually worked, building on the strengths of each of the contributors.

This amalgamated script, directly flawlessly by esteemed emigre Michael Curtiz, is usually cited as the quintessential product of the Hollywood system, and as a rebuttal to the Auteur Theory of film.

Phillip was Theo's grandfather, and Julius was his uncle.

[MFS62]

Willets Point wrote: Theo's family history led to this classic post by Frayed Knot.

Yep, that was a classic.
And thanks for the info everyone.

Later

[Edgy MD]

It's a fact known more intimately than that, as the missing generation there was Bret Sabermetric's academic mentor.

[Frayed Knot]

Willets Point wrote: Theo's family history led to this classic post by Frayed Knot.

This link no longer works -- does that mean that thread no longer exists or is it just hiding some place under a different address?

I wanted to see if I could find the that original post but it's either gone or stupid me can't find it.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Frayed Knot wrote: Theo's family history led to this classic post by Frayed Knot. This link no longer works -- does that mean that thread no longer exists or is it just hiding some place under a different address? I wanted to see if I could find the that original post but it's either gone or stupid me can't find it.

That link points to our old address and is WAYYY out of date.

The thread should exist somewhere in our archives.

[Benjamin Grimm]

And here it is:

http://archives.cranepoolforum.net/1600/f1_t1641.shtml

[Frayed Knot]

Thanks.
I knew I had found it before but couldn't when I tried to the other day, something that was magnified by the fact that I was thinking the whole Theo quitting soap opera was at the end of 2004, not 2005.